Page 42 - IRMSA Risk Report 2020

4.3.1
SP ARSENESS OF UNIFIED E THIC AL AND VISIONAR Y
LEADERSHIP

DUE TO DISPARATE VALUES, A SPARSENESS OF UNIFIED ETHICAL AND VISIONARY LEADERSHIP MAY CONTINUE
TO IMPACT NEGATIVELY ON SA’S BRAND, REPUTATION, ECONOMIC GROWTH, AND ABILITY TO BUILD RESILIENCE.

SCENARIOS FLAGS RISK RANKING OVER LAST 5 YEARS
Leadership RANKING SCALE
Institutional capacity 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Politics
SPRING OF HOPE
Social cohesion
National policy
FAKE IT TILL WE MAKE IT...OR NOT? Service delivery ANNUAL RANKING
Inequality 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020
Economy NOT RANKED NOT RANKED
PERPETUAL HANGOVER
Global trends
Climate

Leadership in the public and private sectors must reach a position where it is acknowledged that the decisions
leadership makes and the process of “business as usual” have far reaching impacts beyond the confines of the
organisation and its immediate stakeholders. The risk rankings over the last five years reflects SA’s “head in the sand”-
approach to date. Our country requires undiluted honesty and focused effort to turn our country around.

TOP 5 CHALLENGES TO ACHIEVING TOP 5 RISK TREATMENT OPTIONS AND
TARGETS OPPORTUNITIES

1. Lack of political courage. Politics prevents SA from addressing 1. Consistently mobilise and publish evidence-based data that
these well-known risks. illustrate the many cases of want and wastage that recur
2. Lack of real action to unequivocally link consequences to because of unethical leadership in all sectors of our society.
wrongdoing. Unless, or until, accountability is enforced, 2. Garner the political will to put the interests of the country first.
corruption will continue. 3. Re-empower and resource the various state organs to breathe
3. The insidious effects of corruption and collusion impact life into the laws we already have to ensure that the guilty are
on every aspect of South African life, from non-payment of brought to book whether for common law or statutory crimes.
electricity to stealing of paper clips and sugar from the office to 4. Raise the political courage to take on the holy cows of a narrow
the bribing of traffic officers to look the other way. nationalism and begin to privatise some of our assets.
4. Very few real arrests are made, despite the mounting prima facie 5. Build the businesses that will build Africa through by creating
evidence of grand level corruption and theft. sustainable jobs; develop local and women-owned supply
5. The slow speed of action and lack of decisive leadership chains; empower the communities in which they operate; and
both infuriate public opinion and make the reorganisation of the conservation of the environment.
corporate and parliamentary SA to deliver on their mandates
much more difficult.

FAC TS AND FIGURES

• 2018 Ethical Practices Survey - Only 10% of respondents felt that officials in the public sector were ethical.

• An astounding 42% of professionals in the public sector disagreed that doing the right thing is more important than
financial success.

• In 2018, a mere 32% of private sector respondents felt their leaders were ethical .
• In 2017, 70% of private sector respondents felt that their leaders were ethical.

Source: IQbusiness GRC – Centre of Excellence